New Wine in Old Wineskins: General Administrative Procedure and Public Administration Reform in Croatia

Abstract

In  2009,  Croatia  adopted  the  new  General  Administrative  Procedure  Act
(GAPA),  which  introduced  several  novelties  in  the  regulation  of  general
administrative procedure. The main research topic deals with the changes that the new GAPA, as an incentive for public administration reform in Croatia, has produced. The empirical data were collected within the EU funded IPA project “Support  for  the  implementation  of  the  General  Administrative  Procedure Act” (2012−2013) and interpreted on the basis of institutional theory. Despite changes to the legal text, the empirical data show that the new GAPA has not resulted in actual changes in everyday public administration.